Sunday, February 16, 2014

DIY Eclectic Alphabet Wall Art: Part 2

Continuing on my letter-designing journey, here is how I did letters G to M. I tried to mix the wall up with some plain and some ornate designs. I also had a few family members make some letters for my baby girl's wall. I love that when we point to certain letters, she calls out "Nana" or "Col-col!"
G: I needed to have a great big letter G since our last name is Gallagher! This letter G is heavy, solid wood, and from Joann's. Using this post I found on Fun Cheap or Free as inspiration, I took to my piles of fabric scraps to dig out purples, tans, browns, and white. I used a cup to trace the size circle I wanted. I wadded up the circles and ran a bead of hot glue down on the wood. It is best to work in small patches-- I learned that one the hard way! This letter turned out heavier than all of the others so make sure you put some extra reinforcement on the back when you hang it up.
H: Letter H was made by my sister Colleen. This is a while chipboard letter that she had left over from a papercrafting kit. If you do not have a a pre-colored letter, make sure you paint it something that coordinates. You don't want orange peeking thru! Col gathered all of the purple, green, brown, and white  ribbon we had (which is a considerable amount). She cut short lengths of each and tied them around the letter. After she was done, we notices some slipping and sliding so Col applied glue to the back of the letter and ribbon to hold them in place.


I: I found a listing on Ebay and bought a few letters in this font for less than a dollar! Plain and simple, I spray painted the I.
J: This J is paper-mache with a wooden letter J glued to the front. I painted the larger letter brown, the trim white, and added polka dots (freehand) in two shades of purple. The wooden letter was white already. I added brown polka dots by dipping a pencil eraser into paint and dabbing them in a random pattern.


K: I purchased the K at Micheal's, It is wooden and came pre-painted white.

L: I purchased a set of blocks at a thrift store with this letter in mind. I glued them together with the smooth side facing out and lined up my daughters name so that it would be showing. I glued the blocks together first with hot glue-- this did not hold up to all the weight. Next, I tried Gorilla Glue... but I used the kind that foams and expands before I realized by mistake. I did my best to sand down the bumps that showed up, painted it white, and painted my daughter's name with glow-in-the-dark purple.
I may be re-doing the L. It gave me a few problems that I am not sure I can live with.

M: The letter M is actually a Cheerios box! I was toying with a few ideas like making it 3D but settled on using three layers of a cereal box, held together at the edges with masking tape. I painted over all of it with a royal purple. The letter is quite tall-- 11.5 inches.

More to come on making your own eclectic alpha wall!
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2 comments:

  1. Will we be seeing the wall as a whole when we finally get to Z? These are so cute! :)

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  2. Hey Steph! Yes-- the final post will reveal all... including the letter Z! Z was a fun one-- I enjoyed putting it together :) More to come soon!

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